The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-12-27
HELPING THE COMPOsITOR.
A Type-Setting Machine That Greatly
Increases His Speed.
From the Nev York Times.

From the Ne1 York Times
There is composing room at 100 Broad
way that would make the average compost
tor turn green with envy. A reception was
held there yesterday. In a corner by the
window was case and before it a young
woman was picking up type with both hands
and dropping it hap-hazard into funnel in
front of her The regular clickings of a
partially concealed piece of mechanism in
dicated the Lagerman type-setting machine
in operation.
Lagerman is a Scandinavian who has de-
voted forty years to the invention of type
setting machinery that in some measures
would increase the effectiveness of the COM
positor or, perhaps, do away with him alto
gether. The greater part of his effort was
devoted to the perfection of some magazine
arrangement of type to be set free by key
board similar to that Of a typewriter In
this effort he succeeded in achieving me-
chanical success, but the machine was of
complicated character, expensive, and liable
to get out Of order, so it did not improve on
the compositor. Failing in the attempt to
do away with the compositor entirely,
LagermRn conceived the idea of providing
him with a mechanical contrivance by
which he could set an Increase number of ems
In stated period. This attempt,it is claimed,
was prominently successful. The young
woman who gave exhibitions of her agility
yesterday said that she could set 700 ems of or
binary type an hour by the primitive method
still prevalent, and by the ambidexterous
method made possible by this machine she
could set $500 ems an hour.
Ths machine upon which the patent in
this country was obtained was made in
Sweden and was cumbersome, dispropor-
toned, and unwieldy in operation. The
superior workmanship apparent to all ma
chinery of American manufacture led the
Lagerman Typothet9 Company, having the
management and control of affairs in this
country, to have machine built here,
where the best of milling machinery prom
lsed lighter, tastier, handsomer, and easier
working machine than they had yet sue
ceeded in producing-the ideal machine, in
fact, of the inventor. This was the ma
chine the company yesterday had on ex-
hibition. A simple little electric engine
supplied the motive power, but any power
available can be employed. Both hands are
employed in feeding the funnel. and the
skilled compositor will retain his rank in the
profession as well with as without this ma
chine. After the type enters the funnel the
machine takes care of it, reversing and
turning where necessary to set type in cor
rect position on the line, and sliding it into
Vic 6cAnOJ 40 do bl4o lBbSkllSClLl tOul-
positor could do it himself, but ever so much
quicker and without danger of pi. The
near approach of the end of line is her
aided by bell, warning the compositor to
insert another space more than type high,
an assortment of which comes with the ma
chine. When one galley is full it can be
detached and another attached, and the
setting go on until such time as the COM
position feels that he would like TO Justify.
Then there is an ingenious apparatus to assist
this operation. The filed galley is fastened
in the apparatus and the power is turned on.
Each line in succession is pushed into con-
trivance like stick, where the necessary
spaces can be added or substituted. The
compositor does not lift the line of type al
any time, and the juslfying line holder is
as convenient as the stick would be- There
is no distributing apparatus. That part of
the work needs still to be done by the com
positor.
1t is claimed for the machine that news
paper hands of ordinary ability will be ablo
TO set and justify from 1000 to $500 ems an
hour, while speedier hands will do as high as
$500. The skilled compositor will be still
required, and he need learn no new art. He
dispenses with the stick and gets in its stead
the justifying machine assistant. Each
machine will set three sizes of type The
expense of the machines, though not vet
fixed, will be only about one-teenth that
of type-setting machines generally EN-
,o1nxva1